BLYTHEWOOD – During the Tuesday night Blythewood Planning Commission meeting, the commission voted 7-0 to recommend an ordinance to rename a portion of Community Road to Scout Motors Drive. The 1,608.51 – acre plant broke ground in February and is expected to eventually bring in approximately 4,000 new jobs for the area.
Staff received a Road Name Change Application from Richland County Economic Development on behalf of Scout Motors to rename a portion of Community Drive to Scout Motors Drive. The section to be renamed would begin at Blythewood Road and continue south for 1.7 miles to the new I-77 interchange, continue across the future I-77 interchange and end at Highway 21/Wilson Blvd for a total length of 3.5 miles.
Town Administrator Daniel Stines said that while the application is for a road name change of Community Road, the action applies to the road naming of the future interchange/connector road to be constructed.
Stines said not many parameters within the town guide the renaming of a road. Rather, guidelines laid out by the South Carolina Planning Enabling Act are responsible for laying the framework for these types of decisions, he said.
“Item 3 of the Act allows for any other good and just reason, to be used in the case of the Planning Commission’s road name change proposal,” Stines said.
Commissioner Jamaal Mosley asked Stines whether or not the Community Road’s name held any historical significance.
“Not that I am aware of or that has been brought to our attention,” Stines said. “I know it has been named that for a long while, but I don’t think it has any historical context.”
Commissioner Bill Tomes asked about the potential impacts for any businesses or properties on the road if the name of the road were to be changed.
He referenced Public Storage, located at 860 Community Road, as the only business that would be affected by the renaming of the portion of the road.
“The other parcels are vacant, so the Public Storage would be the only one impacted in terms of an address changing or something of that nature,” Stines said. “I don’t believe anyone from the company was in attendance at the meeting. That could perhaps signal a low level of concern with the renaming for the company,” he said.
Stines said the renaming has been posted with signage, articles in the newspaper, and social media.
“So in my opinion, it has been well-advertised,” he said.
The portion of the road being renamed from Community Road to Scout Motors Drive at the plant’s entrance will have a deeded easement to Blythewood so that it could be maintained by the town.
Rezoning request recommended
The commission also unanimously voted to recommend an amendment to rezone a 5.68-acre parcel of the Scout property from Light Industrial District – 2 (LI-2) to Light Industrial Research Park.
“As the early blueprint plans for Scout Motors were beginning to form, the entire property was rezoned to LI-2, but the rezoning of that portion of the 5.68 acres was made in order to reflect the establishment of an employee training facility,” Stines explained.
Stines said that the Scout Motors’ Blythewood plant would be one of just either three or four training facilities in the entire state specific to the automobile industry. There, employees will be trained on mechanics and how to operate machinery once the long-awaited facility opens its doors.
Stines said the 5.68 acre portion of the Scout property would become a public facility and be owned by either the state or Midlands Technical College.
“The parcel will eventually be subdivided out after the rezoning is finalized,”Stines said.
Commissioner Ken Coleman asked whether there would be any environmental concerns to be aware of in the area.
“The training facility will be required to comply with the same regulations as the entire plant,” Stines said. “They would need to put together an entire new plan to address those concerns when building and maintaining it.
